2014 Gold Awards Fundraising Excellence Direct Mail $10 million+ Winners

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

The Numbers
Recipients: 111,292
Response rate: 1.97 percent
Total cost: $66,210.83
Income generated: $455,404.66
Average gift: $207.95
Cost to raise a dollar: $0.15

Toward the end of 2013, the Perez Art Museum Miami found itself in something of a good news/bad news situation. The good news was that 1) the former Miami Art Museum was about to reopen with a new name in a stunning new facility, and 2) the period just before a grand opening is a fabulous time to fundraise. The bad news was that depressed results due to mail fatigue were a real possibility because two previous mailings had gone out just prior. Plus, the museum was looking to expand its supporter base by reaching out to both upscale audiences seeking recognition and lower-income audiences who might not ever have considered museum membership.